Sheet and card feed device



Jan. 19, 1965 J. RABINOW ETAL 3,165,311

SHEET AND CARD FEED DEVICE Filed Oct. 2, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet l u a E g 5 Q Q a 5 1: i

&

I: I INVENTGRS Q) Jacob Rabi/70w BY John G. Macdona/d a. flew x ATTORNEYS Jan. 19, 1965 J. RABINOW ETAL 3,166,311

SHEET AND CARD FEED DEVICE Filed Oct. 2, 1962 I 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.2

INVENTORS Jacob Rab/now BY John 6. Macdona/d a W i aid 21mm ATTORNEXS Jan. 19, 1965 J. RABINQW ETAL.

swam AND CARD FEED DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 2, 1962 m i m M w w m a) w w mm m A 9 p m Maw/W 3 0 0 R .7 K m m VA w m w v T YWW BQM United. States Patent 3,165,311 SHEET AND CARD FEED DEWQE Jacob Rahinow, Bethesda, Md, and John G. Macdonald,

Washington, 31G, assignors, by mesne assignments, to

Control Data @orporation, Minneapolis, Minn, a corporation of Minnesota Fi ed Get. 2, E62, Ser. No. 227,751

' 5 Claims. (Cl. 271l2) This invention relates to feeders and particularly to feed devices for statistical cards, sheets, forms and other flexible articles.

There are many commercially available feeders for statistical cards, and numerous feeders for flexible sheets of other-kinds. For the most part, available feeders are satisfactoryfortheir intended purposes. However, to our knowledge, prior feed devices will not handle card sets satisfactorily at high, speeds.

A card set is a group of flexible sheets joined together at one edge.- These sets are now widely used in. credit buying transactions. Generally, a set consists of at least one sheet of comparatively heavy card-stock and a plurality of thin sheets, for example, two tissues and two carbon'sheets. An object of this invention is to provide a feeder which satisfactorily handles card sets at high speeds. I

Another object of'the invention is to provide a feeder which will operate satisfactorily in feeding a variety of flexible articles, for instance, single flexible sheets, cards, etc., or plural sheets, cards, and/ or combinations thereof formed in sets.

The very fact that a set contains a plurality of sheets is, in itself, a difficult problem to cope with because the sheets tend to spread, slide andflutter with respect to each other when they are handled at high speeds by ordinary means. Accordingly, one of the underlyingthoughts of our invention is to handle the set as much as possible by its joined edge portion, and to physically hand the set over from one card set engaging device to another, as described below..,

In accordance with the invention, the flexible articles, e.g.,' cards sets, are arranged in a vertical, horizontal or angular staclc, Separation and withdrawal of each set from the stack is accomplished in two,serially performed steps. The first is to exert a force on the set perpendicular to the face of the set and thereby deflect. a first. part (.e.g.,

"ice

. the deflection of the card set (mouth closing). The grippers move past the stationary conveyor section, laying one face of the set thereon as the movable section of the conveyor contacts'the other face of the presented part of the card set. At the time of presentment of the set to the conveyor, both sections are stopped. When the secthe upper half including the joined edges. ofjthe sheets) away fromthe stack. This leaves only approximately-the lower half of the-set in frictional contact with the stack. The'second. step is to engage the now-deflectedpart of the set and withdraw the set from the stack by pulling the set with a force parallel to the plane of the engaged part oftheset. i Y

In the illustrated embodiment of our invention pneumatically energized grippers bend or deflect the. upper part of the set, and a special conveyor synchronized therewith grips the deflected part' of the set and provides the pulling force which completes the withdrawal of the set from the stack. The special conveyor has two conveyor sections. At least one is displaceable with respect to the other to form a mouth into which the deflected part of the set (containing the joined edges of the sheets of the set) is presented. I

tions close on the set (mouth closed) the conveyor sections are accelerated, and the normal conveyor motion pulls the remaining part of the card set from the stack,

during which the grippers move laterally beyond the edges of the card set (to clear it) and return to the initial position at which the face of a new set is engaged. This sequence, Where the movement of the grippers and conveyor sections are interlaced, permits the sets to be handled very rapidly. This method of separation (where the set is initially bent away from the stack and then completely withdrawn by pulling). overcomes static friction problems (because the card set is gently bent away from the-stack as the initial set-separation movement), and also overcomes inter-card friction problems (because a substantial part of the set has already been spaced from the adjacent set in the stack when it is pulled from the stack).

Accordingly, a further object of the invention is to provide 'a feeder for card sets, cards, sheets or other flexible articles retained in a stack where card withdrawal is accomplished in steps substantially in accordance with the foregoing Feeding sets, which include carbon sheets, present different problems from feeding individual sheets, cards or sets containing no carbon sheets. Sets with carbon sheets will not admit of high pressure contact with their faces and slip producing forces because the carbon substance will disfigure the adjacent sheet. T o overcome this problem the area of the conveyor sect-ions is large so that the unit pressure on the card set is low. The relatively movable conveyor section contributes substantially to this feature, since a comparatively large area of the set is positioned between conveyor sections at the time that they close upon the set. This avoids localized regions of high pressure which would be suflicient to cause one or more of the carbon sheets to smear the other sheets of the set. Since the conveyor belt motion is stopped when the set is gripped (and then accelerated) slipping forces are minimized.

Other objects and features of importance will become apparent in following the description of the illustrated imately on the line 22 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a largely diagrammatic perspective view showing the mechanical movement of my feeder.

FIGURE 4 is a diagrammatic View showing the path of movement of the pneumatic grippers of my feeder.

FIGURES -512 are diagrammatic views showing the Preface FIGURES 3-5b show how the feeder operates to feed flexible articles, for example, card sets (FIGURE 6). In addition, our feeder is capable of feeding sheets, flexible cards and like articles which are fed by prior feeders. Card set Iii (FIGURE 6) is composed of one sheet 16a of card stock and a plurality of lighter weight sheets 10b which are all fastened together (e.g., cemented) along one edge the. The credit-buying set has one or more carbon sheets ltlb together with non-carbon tissues. This kind of set presents certain difliculties in card handling which have been discussed previously.

The feeder has means to retain the articles in a stack 12 (FIGURE 3), for instance, an upwardly open tray 14 (FIGURE 1) which is preferably equipped with a conventional pusher 16 to keep one end of the stack against the front wall llti of the tray. The upper edge 18a of wall 18(which can be replaced by a single transverse rod) is smoothly curved (FIGURE 3) since it forms a bending axis abutment over which (FIGURES Sa and 5b) the articles are deflected and bent. Tray wall 18 is preferably inclined forward (FIGURES 1, 5a and 5b) for several reasons, one of which is to facilitate final withdrawal .of the article (FIGURE 5b, described later) after initial bending of the article.

FIGURES 4-5 b show the relative motions of first and second, serially-acting means for Withdrawing the end article from stack 12. The first means are made of a .pair of gripper-s (preferably pneumatic) 20 and 22 which are also identified as 1 and 2 for the purposes of FIGURES 4-v5b. The grippers when in positions 1 and 2 (FIGURES 4 and 5) pneumatically engage the front face of the end article of the stack. At this time, conveyor 24 is open (FIGURE 5). The conveyor is made of upper and .lower sections 23 and 25 with the lower section fixed and the upper section movable toward and away from the lower section in a manner to form an open and closed mouth.

When the end article of the stack is pneumatically engaged, the grippers move vertically down to positions In and 2a respectively (FIGURE 4) causing the article to bend about the hinge-axis providing surface 18a as shown in FIGURES 5a and 5b. During the downward motion of the grippers to position 1a, 2a, the upper conveyorsection follows the back surface of the article down (FIGURE 5a). The grippers present the deflected portion (preferably a substantial area thereof) to the lower conveyor, laying it on the upper flight of conveyor section 25; Meanwhile,- the upper section 23 of the conveyor 'follows' the grippers and article downward (closing the mouth) and engage the presented part of the article between the conveyor sections. At the time that the aricle is engaged by sections 23 and 25, the belts thereof are stopped. Then, by means described later, the conveyor sections are accelerated, providing accelerating force for completing the withdrawal of the article from the stack as shown by the arrow in FIGURE 5b. Thus, after the deflected orbent part of the article is presented to the conveyor, the force of the conveyor is relied upon to slide the lower part of the article from the stack, i.e., from behind wall 18.

While the conveyor (FIGURE 51)) is withdrawing the article from the stack, grippers 20 and 22 are moved in paths shown by the dotted line positions of FIGURE 4.

' After presenting the deflected part of the article to conveyor 24, the grippers move laterally outward beyond the side edges of the article (to clear the article) and achieve positions 111, 2b. They then move vertically upward and inward through position 10, 2c to the initial position 1,2 at which another article of the stack is 4 pneumatically engaged as shown in FIGURE 5. The motions of the grippers shown in FIGURE 4, i.e., positions 1!), 2b and 10, 20, take place while the article (FIGURE 5b) is being conveyed so that the motions of the conveyor and grippers are partially interlaced to increase the speed of the feeder.

The above procedure for handling and feeding articles can be followed with articles of various thicknesses and configuration. Within practical limits, there are no aspect ratio nor thickness limitations imposed by the feeder on the kind of articles which are handled.

Feeder The preceding description pertains to the mode of operation, and the succeeding description deals with one manner of structurally implementing our invention. Tray 14 is stationarily supported, for instance, by being secured to the frame 28 of the feeder. Only those portions of the frame required to show various mountings are illustrated. Grippers 20 and 22 are provided with an arm 21, 23 respectively, each having a suction head at one end. Each suction head has a chamber 30, and one wall thereof has a plurality of suction ports 32. Chamber 30 is registered with a switch controlled valve 34 (FIGURES l and 3) by way of a flexible tube 36, and the switch controlled valve (for instance, a solenoid valve) is communicated with vacuum source 38 via conduit 40. The timing of the pneumatic system is described later with the timing summary of the entire feeder.

.The mechanical motion of gripper 20 (as shown in FIGURE 4) is obtained in a manner identical to the motion of gripper 22 and therefore only the latter means are illustrated. Arcuate movement of the suction head in a vertical plane is obtained by having arm 21 of'gripper 20 attached to an L-shaped crank 44 (FIGURES 1-3) and by oscillating the crank about the central axis of bearing 46. Hollow shaft 48 is attached to the inner race of bearing 46 and to one leg of crank 44. The outer race of bearing is secured to frame 28. Push rod 50 is pivoted to the crank 44 and is in engagement with cam 52 adapted to be rotated in a manner described later. A constraining link 54 is pivoted to the frame of the machine and to the push rod 50. Thus (FIGURE 3), when cam 52 is rotated, crank 44 and consequently the gripper 20 is oscillated in a vertical plane.

- 'As' shown in FIGURE 4, gripper 20 moves from the article engaging position 1 vertically downward to position 1a, but then is moved horizontally out to position lb and then upward with a compound inward and upward motion to return to the initial position 1. The necessary horizontal component of motion of gripper 20 is obtained by using a pivot 54 to couple the gripper arm 21 to crank 44. Push rod 56 is connected by pivot 53 to the end of" arm 21 of gripper 2i) and extends through hollow shaft48. The push rod is fixed to the inner race of a'bearing 60, and the outer race'is connected by trunnions 62 to a rocker 64 (FIGURES l-3). When the rocker is oscillated, push rod56 pivotsthe gripper 20 about the axis of pin 54, and the push rod 56'is free to rotate with respect to rocker 64 due to the bearing 60. The rocker 64 is mounted for pivotal motion on pivots 66 connected with the rocker and brackets 68 of frame 28. Rocking motion is imparted to the rocker by cam 7 0, synchronized with cam 52, and a .cam follower 72 which is attached to the rocker. Accordingly, the movements depicted in FIGURE 4 are achieved by the above described structural arrangement.

' Conveyor 24 is composed of an upper conveyor section 23 and a lower conveyor section 25 with each section made of multiple conveyor belts. As shown in FIG- URE l,the inner part of conveyor 24 fits between the grippers when the grippers are in the lowered position (FIGURE 5b). Lower section 25 includes front and rear pairs of conveyor rollers 88, 82, connected to shafts S3 and 84. These shafts are mounted in bearings (not shown) in frame 28. The upper conveyor section 23 has front and rear sets 85 and 86 of conveyor rollers with which conveyor belts are engaged. The fron-tpair of rollers 85 are connected to a spindle 88 attached to a face 91 (FIGURES 1 and3). Cam 94 (on shaft 123,

FIGURE 3') engages cam. surface 91 and operates in proper synehronism with the remainder of the feeder to raise and lower the upper conveyor section 23 as shown;

in FIGURES 2 and 5-51). Thus, the desired synchronism between the motions, of the grippers (FIGURES 15-5b) and the conveyor sections are obtained.

The synchronizing and power drivers for the various subsystems of our feeder are schematically represented in the drawings since they can be varied considerably and achieve the same result as we have depicted in FIGURES 4-511. Accordingly, to show the principle involved, we have everything synchronized from shaft 169 of a main drive motor 102. Cams 52 and "it? are secured to shaft 100, and these cams are duplicated (not shown) on the opposite side of the feeder for the gripper 22. The switch controlled valve 34 is actuated by cam 110 attached to shaft 100 (FIGURES 1* and 3) so that 'the vacuum is on at the time that the grippers engage the article in the stack (FIGURE 5) and remains on.

6 The differential operation is now obvious. Planet gears 148and 150 are on cage-supported spindles, and they are enmeshed with the sun and ring gears 152 and 154 respectively, the latter of which is driven from shaft 160, via belt and pulley 114 and shaft 116. The sun gear is secured to shaft 129 which ultimately drives the belts of conveyor sections 23 and 25. When arm 146' is tilted by cam 110, the planet gears move in a direction to neutralize the constant speed input to thering gear as seen by the sun gear 152.

It is understood that the illustrated embodiment is given by way of example only that various changes, modifications or other alterations may be made without departing from the protection of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A feeder for card sets which include at least two flexible superposed sheets joined at one edge, means to retain the card sets in a stack, and an abutment extending across the face of the end set of the stack, means to engage the end set and bend a first part thereof about said abutment to thereby separate said first part from the stack and form the initial separation of the set from until the deflected part of the card ispresented to the,

conveyor (FIGURE 5b) at which time the switch controlled valve 34 operates to vent the vacuum chamber 30.

There are two motions of conveyor 24. One is the usual conveyor-belt motion obtained from shaft 106} by a belt and pulley drive 114 (FIGURE 1) or the equiva differential 118. The output shaft 12% of the differential (FIGURE 3) has a gear 122 which drives a gear set 124 made of two engaged gears secured respectively to conveyor drive shafts 84 and 92; However, this motion is interrupted during each article-feed cycle as described later. The other motion of conveyor 24 is imparted only to section 23 (FIGURES 5-5/5) and this must be timed with the movement of the grippers 20, 22. Therefore, we have shown a belt and pulley drive 126 connected with shaft 1% and lay shaft 128 mounted in bearings (not I shown) in the frame 28. Cam 94 (described previously) is secured to shaft 128, whereby the oscillatory movement of conveyor section 23 is timed with the movement of a pair of grippers 2t), 22. Since we have shown a gear set 124 to drive both conveyor sections and the upper section 23 is rotatable (by earns 90, 94) about the axis of shaft 92, during the time that there is oscillatory movement of section 23, there will be a driving speed difference. To compensate for this, slip clutch, 125 is interposed in shaft 2, which is adjusted to care for this difliculty, although other suitable (but more complicated) mechanisms can be usedrto serve the same purpose When grippers 20, 22 present the deflected part of the article to conveyor 24 (FIGURE 5b) the design is such that the belts of the conveyor sections .are stopped, and when the article is gripped by the sections (mouthlclosed) I the belts of conveyor sections 23 and 25 are simultaneously accelerated so that the article is both rapidly and crisply completely withdrawn from the tray 14 (FIG- URE 5b). elude a mechanical input to differential 118 which momentarily cancels the input of shaft 116. The mechanical input to the differential to momentarily stop the belts of, sections 23 and 25 from being driven (at the time that the article is presented thereto and engaged thereby, FIGURE 5b) must be synchronized with the motion of section 23 toward section 25. Thus, we use cam110 (FIGURE 3) on shaft 100 to oscillate a rocker 142 having a'link 144 attached at one end thereto. The other end of link 144 is connected to arm 146 which rocks about shaft 129 and forms the cage of differential 113.

the stack, conveying means adjacent to said stack into which said first part of said set is fed by said setengaging means, means for actuating said conveying means to complete the withdrawal of said set from the stack by pulling the set over said abutment, and means timed with said engaging means to accelerate said conveying means when a set is presented thereto.

2. The feeder of claim 1 wherein said card set engaging means are pneumatic, and said conveying means are frictionally operative and include a pair of conveyors v v having set-engaging confronting flights engaging coplanar alent which rotates shaft 116 constituting one input of H opposite surfaces overra comparatively large area of the set.

3. A feeder for card sets which include at least two flexible superposed sheets joined at one edge, means to retainthe c'ard sets in a stack, and an abutment extendingracross the face of the end set of the stack, means to engage the end set and bend a first part thereof about said abutment to thereby separate sm'd first part from the stack and form the initial separation of-the set from the stack, conveying means adjacent to said stack,

, engaging means and to displace said first conveyor to The stopping and accelerating means in the mouth-closing position so that said flights engage a substantial portion of the planar surfaces of the received part of said set, and means to accelerated said first and said second conveyors after said part of said set is engaged to complete the withdrawal of the set.

4. A feeder for card sets which include at least two fiexible'superposed sheets joined at one edge, means to .retain the card sets in a stack, and an abutment extending across-the face of the end set of the stack, means to engage the end set and bend a first part thereof about said abutment to thereby separate said first part from the stack and form the initial separation of the set from the stack, conveying-means adjacent to said stack into which said first part of said set is fed by said set-engaging means, means for actuating said conveying means to complete the withdrawal of said set from the stack, said conveying means including" a displaceable first conveyor and a second conveyor, means synchronized. with said engaging means to displace said first conveyor in a manner to form an open mouth to receive the part of the set presented thereto by said engaging means, and to displace said first conveyor tothe mouth-closing position for engaging an elongate planar surface of the received part of said set between confronting flights of said conveyors, said card engaging means including a pair of grippers which simultaneously engage a face of said set while in said stack, and means for moving said grippers to a position alongside of said conveying means at which said set part is presented in said mouth, and for then moving said grippers laterally to clear the conveyor-engaged set and return to said stack to. engage a new card.

5. The feeder of claim 4 and means operatively associated with said conveyor actuating means for stopping 10 said conveying means at the time that the set is received between said confronting flights and the conveyors are in said mouth-closing position, and to accelerate said conveying References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,160,905 6/39 Reinartz 271-27 2,742,285 4/56 De Back 27l29 3,055,658 9/62 Kister 27129 5 ROBERT B. REEVES, Acting Primary Examiner.

SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Examiner. 

1. A FEEDER FOR CARD SETS WHICH INCLUDE AT LEAST TWO FLEXIBLE SUPERPOSED SHEETS JOINTED AT ONE EDGE, MEANS TO RETAIN THE CARD SETS IN A STACK, AND AN ABUTMENT EXTENDING ACROSS THE FACE OF THE END SET OF THE STACK, MEANS TO ENGAGE THE END SET AND BEND A FIRST PART THEREOF ABOUT SAID ABUTMENT TO THEREBY SEPARATE SAID FIRST PART FROM THE STACK AND FORM THE INITIAL SEPARATE OF THE SET FROM THE STACK, CONVEYING MEANS ADJACENT TO SAID STACK INTO WHICH SAID FIRST PART OF SAID SET IS FED BY SAID SETENGAGING MEANS, MEANS FOR ACTUATING SAID CONVEYING MEANS TO COMPLETE THE WITHDRAWAL OF SAID SET FROM THE STACK BY PULLING THE SET OVER SAID ABUTMENT, AND MEANS TIMED WITH SAID ENGAGING MEANS TO ACCELERATE SAID CONVEYING MEANS WHEN A SET IS PRESENTED THERETO. 